I've often been tempted to do a post about the various indignities that get inflicted on the English language in Asia. I usually stop myself: the goofs are seldom as funny out of context; and in any case, the whole thing gives me a case of post-colonial guilt. Whoever perpetrates the sins against Dr Johnson found on sites like The Chinglish Files is at least making the effort: his or her English will always be better than my Thai.
But (and you knew there was going to be a but, didn't you?) I couldn't resist this one. On the cover of a slightly dodgy DVD of Seabiscuit, the 2003 movie about a runty horse that became a champion, I read:
"A LONG SHIT THAT BECAME A LEGEND"
8 comments:
Oh man. And I'm just settling down for a long session of proofreading. This is beautiful.
I thought that was The Peter Crouch Story.
If only I could think of a good scatological response to that...
I've only just realised this could be a simple typo, Valerie ('I' being next to 'O' on the kbd). But much respect if you find something better.
Geoff: And didn't someone describe Brian Clough twatting that pitch invader as "the shit hits the fan"?
You will, Billy, you will.
here's one i've had as a file tag for a couple of years:
DO NOT GO IN The ATTIC!
EVEN IF ATTIC OF SEXY, NOT TO GO IN!
WATCHOUT OF A WASP ALSO! AND NOT MAKE LICK OF IT!
THIS IS WARNING OF YOU!
Sadly I didn't have a digital camera when I was in Malaysia. There were some absolute gemes. Being there due to business, often in non-tourist areas (for some people it meant staying 4 months at a time on several occasion) meant enterprising locals hurriedly put up English signs with hilarious results. A bit like Babelfish translations crossed with malapropism crossed with dyslexia.
Latest one for me was at a Carrefour in BKK, which offered a separate bathroom for the disabled clearly marked "cripple only".
Noel here Tim (all blogspot options are in Thai! No idea how to log in etc.).
Cheers.
Morning, Boivin-san. The equivalent in Beijing is apparently 'deformed man'.
Yes, I set my account up in London, but it still defaults to Thai characters for no particular reason...
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